The Weary Have Gotten the Best of the Rested

By

Andrew Beaton

Oct. 11, 2013 9:07 p.m. ET

The Jets enter Sunday's game against Pittsburgh, following a thrilling 30-28 win in Atlanta on Monday Night Football. The Steelers, meanwhile, had last weekend off to ponder their 0-4 start. Did the NFL schedule makers do a disservice to Rex Ryan's squad by giving Pittsburgh two weeks to prepare, while the Jets have a short work week?

The huge difference in rest may not actually be a benefit. Since the NFL instituted bye weeks in 1990, teams coming off that extra week off are 10-23 against teams that played on Monday night the previous week, according to Stats LLC. It should be stated that teams coming off the Monday Night Football game were the sports-book favorites in 18 of the 33 contests (with two even point spreads), but they still managed to go 23-9-1 against the spread against their well-rested foes, according to RJ Bell of Pregame.com. And this isn't mere home-field advantage: Sixteen teams coming off Monday Night Football in this sample played on the road.

ENLARGE

Plaxico Burress #17 of the New York Jets celebrates his second touchdown against the San Diego Chargers in 2011.
Getty Images

Ryan's Jets were one of the teams that won both straight up and against the spread after a Monday night game, beating the Chargers 27-21 in 2011, when San Diego had two weeks to game plan. The Jets will try to repeat as 2.5-point favorites at home Sunday.

The Steelers, however, also faced this same scenario in 2011. Coming off their bye week that season, they beat Kansas City 13-9 after the Chiefs had played their previous game on Monday night.

—Andrew Beaton

Always Be Unprepared

The results the last 10 times a team coming off a bye week played a team coming off Monday Night Football.

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